SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Despite concerns amid the pandemic, several sports jamborees took place Friday across Springfield.

Springfield Public Schools hosted several sporting events at a few of its high schools, including a softball game and a few football games.

The Missouri State High School Activities Association previously recommended not hosting jamborees before the fall school year started, but later updated its policies to allow events between two teams take place unseated of four.

For many of the athletes and their parents, Fridays jamborees were a bit of a return to normalcy.

“It just feels awesome,” SPS parent Tim Sallee said at his daughters’ softball tournament. “It’s just been a fantastic thing to get out of the house and go watch the kids play. We’ve really been looking forward to it.”

With COVID-19 cases popping up and teams across the area announcing exposures, many have anxiously waited to see how the fall sports seasons would play out.

Among the safety features for Friday’s event and the rest of the sporting seasons: masks, 50-percent stadium capacities, and markings on bleachers to separate families into “pods.”

The same goes for the players.

“As you will see our players are in masks while they’re on the sidelines,” SPS Athletic Director Marty Marsh said.

Tim Sallee said he is happy to be back out watching his daughters play ball, but he also says he feels safe about it.

“It’s kind of like we’re being cautious but not walking afraid being afraid,” he said. “Because we know the proper precautions are being taken. And everybody is doing their best to make it enjoyable and safe at the same time.”

Lots of sanitizing goes into the game now too, including bats, balls and everything in between.

Athletic health director Marty Marsh said one of the biggest changes is “podding people,” or keeping people separated.

“And our coaches have done a tremendous job of even working with our athletes to pod them and keep them in our pods and workouts,” Marsh said.

Parents attending the events said the chi angels might take some getting used to, but they are just happy to still be out and about.

“You’ll see the umpire pull the ball out of the game because more than two people touched it” Sallee said. “And you’ll see face masks were required here but nobody minds because you know wearing a face mask and watching your kids play ball is so much better than not watching your kid play ball.”

According to the district, season football tickets will no longer be sold. Instead a limited number of vouchers sold, starting first with all of the participating members and their families.

Marsh said the health and safety of the student athletes is the district top priority. He also said the district has been working on safety precautions for sporting events since March, and said the district will announce any additional policies before individual events.

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